Two hundred kilometres above the Arctic Circle hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers are finding a new life in northern Norway, but recently the doors have been shutting on those desperate to start fresh in the High North.
Norwegian researcher Salve Dahle fears Russia’s new law requiring NGOs to register as foreign agents could have a chilling effect on research cooperation in the Barents Region.
New archaeological findings in the border areas between Norway and Finland suggest immigration and cultural contacts from today’s Russia to northern Finland and Norway 10.000 years ago.
Northern Russians and Finns are the by far biggest drinkers in the Barents Region. They are also the ones with the highest homicide and suicide rates, figures from Patchwork Barents show.
Two hundred kilometres above the Arctic Circle hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers are finding a new life in northern Norway, but recently the doors have been shutting on those desperate to start fresh in the High North.
In the coming weeks towns on both sides of the Norwegian-Russian border will be marking the 70th anniversary of Soviet troops’ liberation of Pechenga and Eastern Finnmark from Wehrmacht’s forces.
“We cannot live with the stigma of being traitors and will appeal this decision,” says Tatiana Kulbakina, member of Humanist Youth Movement, which is the first NGO in Murmansk to be decleared as foreign agents.
Ahead of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s visits the northern Russian city of Arkhangelsk, houses are painted, roads constructed, garbage removed and flowers planted. At the same time, the authorities are strongly requesting local media not to write negatively about the city during the visit.
